Easy Vegetarian Quesadillas

Posted by mishibhatnagar in mexican food, new dishes, RECIPE, snacks and tagged with , , , , , , ,

Quesadillas can be the perfect snack when having people over for food. They will add to the variety of your party menu and can even be the main dish AND are extremely easy to make, especially for us Indians because its almost like you are making parathas with topping! Whats more is that even if you are living in a place where tortillas are not readily available in the market, you can still make almost authentic tortillas at home with ingredients that are used in almost every household. And as for the fillings, well, there is absolutely no limit to how many varieties you can come up with.

So here is one that I tried making at home. Now get ready because this gourmet-style quesadilla recipe will push you to make your own tortillas and coulis and even your own dip (no ready-to-eat stuff here!) and it uses some of the freshest and most easily available ingredients that you can find almost in any household. So here goes!

Ingredients:

For the filling                                           *For the red bell pepper coulis

2 tbsp kidney beans cooked                   2-3 red bell peppers
2 tbsp black eyed beans cooked            Olive oil
2 tbsp tomato puree                               2 tbsp chopped shallots
1/2 tsp Mexican chilli powder                  1/4 cup vegetable stock
1 small bunch coriander chopped          1 tbsp balsamic vinegar
3 cloves garlic                                         Salt and white pepper to taste
1 chopped onions
½ bell pepper                                               For the tortillas
1 green chilly                                                2 cups maize flour
1 onion                                                         (makki ka atta in hindi)
2 tbsp red bell pepper coulis*                     1/2 tsp salt
1 pinch cumin powder                                 1 and 1/4 cup warm water
Salt to taste
2 tsp lime juice

METHOD

Red bell pepper coulis recipe:

  • Remove the core, seeds and membranes from the peppers and roughly chop them.
  • Heat a heavy-bottomed sauté pan over medium heat for a minute, then add the olive oil and heat for another minute.
  • Add the shallots and sauté for a minute or two or until they’re slightly translucent.
  • Reduce heat to low, add the chopped pepper. Cover and sweat for about 15 minutes or until tender.
  • Add a couple of tablespoons of stock and cook for another minute or two.
  • Remove from heat and purée in a blender.

Tortilla recipe:

  • Mix the maize flour and salt. Then add the water.
  • Knead it for two minutes until the tortilla dough comes together. It should acquire a smooth texture like play dough.
  • Form it into a ball and let it sit for at least an hour, covered with plastic wrap.
  • After resting, break off a small piece from the dough ball, roll it into a ball and then press it between your palms. If it forms cracks along the edges it’s too dry. Knead some more water into it, a little bit at a time until its texture improves. If the dough sticks to your palms, it is too wet. Add more maize flour, little by little, until it doesn’t stick anymore.
  • Split the dough in half 4 times to get 16 even pieces and roll them into equal sized balls. Be sure to keep the tortilla dough covered with a damp paper towel while you work to keep them from drying out.
  • Now, using a tortilla press or a roti maker or even just a rolling pin, roll out the tortillas making sure they are as circular as possible and have equal thickness all over.
  • Carefully place the tortillas on a pre-heated skillet/pan/tawa over medium heat and flatten out any ruffles in it. Gently press it with a wadded up paper towel. Once the tortilla has a few brown spots flip one last time and press on it some more. This will cause the steam escaping to blow the tortilla up like a balloon.
  • The tortilla is done when it has ballooned up and is lightly toasted on both sides. Transfer to a paper towel lined pot with a lid to keep warm until they are all ready to serve.

For the filling

  • Sauté onions, peppers and the green chillies in olive oil for 2 minutes. Keep aside.
  • Next, sauté the onions and garlic. Cook for a few minutes, add the kidney beans and black eyed beans and season with cumin powder and salt.
  • Add coriander leaves and tomato purée to the bean mixture. Then blend this mix to make the bean purée.

Assembling the Quesadillas

  • Smear the bean puree onto the tortillas then sprinkle the pepper and onion mixture.
  • Place the tortillas one on top of each other as if to form a sandwich and pan-fry till nice and crispy.
  • Cut the tortilla sandwich into triangles and serve with the sour cream dip.

For the sour cream dip

Just mix in sour cream, lemon juice, Mexican chili powder, black pepper, salt, coriander and the red pepper coulis and your dip is ready!

Eggless Pumpkin Pie (Beware: You WILL fall in love with it!)

Posted by mishibhatnagar in holiday food, new dishes, RECIPE, traditional food and tagged with , , , , , , ,

While trying my hand at Thanksgiving recipes I figured why not go all the way! So even though the holiday just passed us by, MY celebrations aren’t coming to a stop just yet. Nope! Thanksgiving ain’t gettin’ over that easy! Not until I learn everything that there is to learn about Thanksgiving food :P

And the dish that is next on the cards is Pumpkin Pie. (OK! OK!..I admit it. I am a dessert freak! Out of all the savory choices I just had  to pick the sweet treat! :P ).  But hey you know what I am not the only one who is smitten with this dessert. Apparently it has ensnared and seduced many, becoming a muse for artists and inspiration for musicals. In fact Oscar Ferdinand Telgmann and George Frederick Cameron even wrote a song about it for the 1889 Opera (REALLY?!!) called Leo, the Royal Cadet:

Farewell, O fragrant pumpkin pie!

Dyspeptic pork, adieu!
Though to the college halls I hie.
On field of battle though I die, my latest sob, my latest sigh
shall wafted be to you!
And thou, O doughnut rare and rich and fried divinely brown!
Thy form shall fill a noble niche in memory’s chamber whilst I pitch
my tent beside the river which rolls on through Kingston town.
And my Love—my little Nell,
the apple of my eye to thee how can I say farewell?
I love thee more than I can tell;
I love thee more than anything—but—pie!
Sigh…
Wonder how it would feel if my boyfriend professed his love for ME the way this man is talking to his pie…
ANYWAYS! (snapping out of the daydream) this is the recipe that I tried out and trust me it worked like a charm. It’s easy, uses fresh ingredients and even works for vegetarians as it is completely eggless. If this isn’t gourmet cooking, I don’t know what is!

Pumpkin Pie

Ingredients:

For the crust

  • 1 cup plain flour
  • 1/3 cup cold butter
  • 1/2 tsp. salt
  • 5-7 tbsp. cold water
For the filling
  • 2 cups freshly pureed pumpkin
  • 400g or 1 1/4 cups, sweetened condensed milk
  • 2 tbsp. cornflour
  • 1 ½ tsp. cinnamon powder
  • 3/4 tsp. freshly grated nutmeg
  • 1/2 ts.p ground cloves
  • 1/2 tsp. ginger powder
  • 1/2 tsp. salt

Method:

To make the crust:

Mix the flour, salt and cold butter using a blender/food processor or with your fingers until the mixture resembles coarse breadcrumbs. Put in the cold water and knead into a soft dough. Don’t handle the dough more than required. Chill the dough for an hour or two. On a floured surface roll out the dough to a circle, approximately 12″ in diameter,place it in a 22.5cm (9-inch) pie dish or tart pan with removable bottom and chill.

To make the pumpkin puree:

Cut the pumpkin into wedges and scoop out the seeds, pith and fiber. Place the pumpkin wedges cut side down on an oiled baking sheet and bake in the oven at 350F/180C/4G  for about 45 minutes to an hour or until the pumpkin is tender. Scoop flesh out of the skins and puree with a hand blender or mash well by hand.

To make the pie:

Pre-heat the oven to 200 C/390 F. In a bowl, mix in the pumpkin puree, condensed milk,  cornflour, spices and salt and beat until all lumps are removed. Put the filling onto the chilled crust and level with a palette knife. Bake for about 40 minutes or until the filling is set and the top crust is a nice golden brown. Allow to cool.  Slice and serve with whipped cream, vanilla ice cream or sweetened yogurt.

 

Its…TURKEY TIME!!

Posted by mishibhatnagar in history, holiday food, new dishes, RECIPE, traditional food and tagged with , , , , ,

Thanksgiving is just around the corner and I couldn’t have asked for a better way to delve into the world of festival food than with the delicious, scrumptious, knock-me-off-my-feet traditional food for Thanksgiving. What with mashed potatoes, pumpkin pies, stuffing, yams, casseroles, I’m going crazy just trying to pick what dish to try first!

So I’ve settled on the dish that practically screams thanksgiving-the all enticing and intensely pleasing TURKEY (unless you are Chandler Bing in which case I completely understand your utter dislike for everything  Thanksgiving-y). This American holiday just isn’t complete without it . But I’ve come to know that it wasn’t always so and that these birds were NOT the most popular centerpieces on the first Thanksgiving dinner tables. According to what is traditionally known as “The First Thanksgiving,” the 1621 feast between the Pilgrims and the Wampanoag at Plymouth Colony had not only turkey but also waterfowl, venison, fish, clams, berries, fruit, pumpkin, squash and even lobster as part of the carte du jour. So what did turkey do to become the main mascot of modern-day Thanksgiving?

Legend has it that Queen Elizabeth the first was eating a roast goose during a festival when found out that a Spanish ship, which was going to attack England, mysteriously sunk on the way. In her happiness, she ordered that another roast goose be prepared to celebrate England’s good fortune thus making Roast goose a popular meal at harvest time. The story is that when pilgrims first arrived in America from England they found few geese but many turkeys. So they switched over to roast turkeys to commemorate festivities. Bizzare isn’t it?!

And now after that quick dip into the fabulous history turkeys and geese, it’s time to get down to the business of cooking a traditional Thanksgiving roast turkey.

Prep time: 15 minutes                                              Cook time: 4 hours

INGREDIENTS

  • 1 turkey
  • lemon juice
  • Salt and pepper
  • butter or olive oil
  • 1/2 yellow onion, diced
  • Tops and bottoms of celery
  • 2 carrots
  • Parsley
  • Sprigs of fresh rosemary, thyme

METHOD

1 Bring the turkey to room temperature before cooking kept in its plastic wrapping until ready for cooking. Remove the neck, heart, gizzard, liver etc.. They can be used  for making stock for the stuffing.

2 Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.

3 Wash the turkey with water and pat dry with paper towels. Lather the inside cavity with the lemon juice and then rub it with a small hand full of salt.

4  Put the yellow onion, parsley, and the celery inside the turkey to add flavor. Then cap the body cavity with some aluminum foil so that the stuffing doesn’t fall out. Seal the cavity with either kitchen string or metal skewers. Make sure that the turkey’s legs are tied together as well as the wings and are held close to the body.

You can stuff the neck cavity with parsley but make sure to tie it closed with skewers and string.

5 Rub either melted butter or olive oil all over the outside of the turkey and sprinkle salt and pepper (soaking the turkey in salt water brine before-hand will also do).

6 Place turkey BREAST DOWN on the bottom of a rack over a roasting pan. Add several sprigs of  thyme and rosemary to the outside of the bird.

 7  Put the turkey in the oven. I recommend cooking time of about 15 minutes for every pound. For example- for a 15 lb turkey, start the cooking at 400 F for the first 1/2 hour. Then reduce the heat to 350 F for the next 2 hours. Then reduce the heat further to 225 F for the next hour to hour and a half.

To get the breast brown as well, turn the bird over so that the breast is on top, and put it in a 500°F oven  for 4-5 minutes. However, in doing this, you are running the risk of overcooking the breast.

Spear the breast with a knife. Ideally the turkey juices should be clear, not pink, if properly cooked. You can also use a meat thermometer to check whether it is done or not.

8 Once you remove the turkey from the oven, let it rest for 15-20 minutes. Turn the turkey breast side up to carve it.

Making Turkey Gravy

Scrape all the drippings off of the bottom of the roasting pan and pour into a skillet. Remove excess fat with a gravy spoon. In a separate small bowl take a quarter cup of corn starch and add water to dissolve it. Make sure you remove all the lumps. Add the cornstarch mixture to the drippings, stirring constantly till you get the required thickness. Add salt, pepper, sage, thyme, or other seasonings to taste.

All I can say is that when I tried it, it tasted simply OUT-OF-THIS-WORLD!!

The world is addicted to Holiday Food!

Posted by mishibhatnagar in Uncategorized

So festival time just went by in my country and it left me thinking about how each holiday, each festival represents something unique to us all..food wise I mean. Its just something that we have all grown up with. Smells of the kitchen that remind us of our childhood when mom would be busy creating classics that represent to us this special time of the year.

And its true for every single culture in this world. Like if its Christmas its delicious turkey, lots of cakes and wine, Easter means chicken and the favorite of all easter eggs or Eid means you’ll be indulging yourself in meaty feasts and sweet delights. The list goes on. Certain dishes are just like that. They ALWAYS remind us of a special time of the year, of home, of family and of course of mom’s cooking.

But somehow these specialties just never go out of style. I mean year after year after year you keep on eating these same tried and tested recipes that have been made in your families for generations and still you crave for more. I mean you just HAVE to eat chocolate cake on Christmas! Its just not complete without it!

I think these classics are the truly what gourmet food is all about. They represent love, soul, tradition, festivities, joy, home, family (so much in just one dish!) and still have a flair that makes them special and different from the everyday food affair.  They incorporate local traditions, seasonal produce and represent a culture and its vast heritage. They excite us, indulge us and make us want more. And that is the ultimate goal of cooking gourmet.

So I’ve decided to begin my gourmet recipe collection with exploring festival food around the world, hoping to get a taste of the cultures as well along with the lovely food the world has to offer.

And you know what?

I just can’t wait to get started! :P

Just another Hello World! by yet another food enthusiast.

Posted by mishibhatnagar in Uncategorized

There is no love more sincere than the love of food..wonder what my boyfriend would have to say on that! :P

I have spent my life as someone married to one and only one type of food-the home made kind. And as in every committed relationship I have always wondered if there is something better for me out there.

So here is my journey of exploring that better something, my adventures with food. I will write about my newest explorations and also  throw in recipes that I find interesting, all the while attempting to create everyday food a gourmet extravaganza!